


Sophet the Forest Girl

by PIW



Category: Freelancer
Genre: Death, Other, just kinda stashing here feel free to read if you like, kids story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26386162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PIW/pseuds/PIW
Summary: A story about growth.
Comments: 1





	Sophet the Forest Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Niki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niki/gifts).



> My friends have been asking me to write/read them bedtime stories recently so I figured I'd post them to AO3 as a nice little backup in case something goes wrong with my personal files.  
> Feel free to enjoy them if you're stopping by! I hope you have a good time. c:

Long ago in the distant land of Twen there was a deep forest that all the local villages in the area feared and respected. It was known as the Quiet hills, and it was said that once inside after a mile of walking the forest would fall silent. Not a bird, nor a mouse scuttering through the litter to be heard all around. Just quiet, and once you passed this boundary of silent sound no one ever wanted to return from it.  
It was a blessed curse. The forest removed all the chaos from one’s life and replaced it with peace, but in exchange, they could never return.  
Some of the local villages sent their elders in when it was their time, some said. To allow them a peaceful end to a long life of service. The forest was said to take care of them, keep them safe, and well-loved till their time naturally came, but of course, no one could know for sure.  
Little did the village people know that they weren't completely wrong. For beyond the quiet line that marked the ‘no return’ lived a little girl named Sophet who never aged. None of the village people knew her name of course as she didn't speak any of the local languages, but the forest could understand her perfectly. It kept her well like the villages thought it did for their loved ones.  
It fed her when she was hungry, it filled her when she was thirsty, and when she was cold she could always let go and wonder her way to a safe place. To lay in a cave against a black bears belly, or up in the hills to bask in the starlight on summer nights. The forest never did her wrong, but this was not the case for all.  
Every once and a while she'd come across an older version of herself. Face wrinkly and tried from the stretch of time. Sophet never fully understood what had happened. Why were these beings she came across so worn down? What had they done to have the forest treat them so poorly? She wasn't even sure they were the same. Maybe they were a different species, but even though she could never understand the words they said or the actions they took she could see in their eyes they were the same.  
The old people who wandered into her forest treated her kindly.  
As she ran around the forest they tried to offer her their shawls to keep her warm even if she wasn't cold. They would save berries they found to share with her even as they themselves clearly hadn't found enough to fill themselves. She was never hunger or ill fit, so she didn't understand why these beings would go so far out of their way for her.  
So she tried to understand, she stayed with one.  
One day an old woman had come across her path, and after meeting the same odd behavior as she had with all the old ones in the past instead of running off like she always had, she stayed.  
The old woman always saved her some berries and offered her some of her clothes to keep her warm. She would ramble in a language she couldn't understand, but the rambling seemed to make the old women happy, so she listened. Months went on this way. Days and nights.  
Sophet eventually showed the women the ways of the forest as time went on. Where to fill her belly on the best berries, the friendliest black bears to sleep with, the best stargazing spots. She even showed her a nice hideout under a tree to keep her safe from the rain, which the women had then turned into a cozy home with time.  
It was strange to Sophet, but like all the strange things the lady did it brought kindness she couldn't comprehend. Warm tea by makeshift fires, cozy little dinners on leaf plates. Every new thing Sophet showed the old woman she turned into something kinder, something more elegant and wonderful than it had been in its natural form. It never stopped amazing Sophet that she could do so much with so little.  
Then one-day Sophet came by to visit the old lady in her forest home and no one was there. The makeshift bed was cold, the fire embers not even glowing, the smell of life was gone from the place.  
"Forest," Sophet thought, "where has she gone?"  
"She has returned to me, Sophet," the forest responded, in quiet whispers of wind and creaking of wood.  
"What do you mean? She was already here how can she have returned?" Sophet thought, to which the forest responded, "she has returned to the earth, just like all the forest creatures do in time."  
Sophet was quiet for a moment, taking in the scene of the cold home. Remembering all the memories she'd grown there.  
"But not me?" Sophet thought.  
"No," the forest replied, "not you."  
Sophet didn't understand, but she couldn't bring herself to ask any more questions. She just sat in her old friend’s bed and wept till her tears summoned the rains, and the howling of the wind outside forced her back into the world. However, when she returned she wasn’t the same. When she stood she was taller; her arms longer than before. She was no longer a little girl, but a young lady, and her new center of balance sent her tumbling to the floor.  
"Forest what happened! Why have I changed?" She thought to the forest only slightly panicked, more wondered at her new limbs and their length.  
"You have felt sorrow," said the forest, "it is what makes all life grow. For better or worse you have grown."  
Sophet sat for a minute, looking at her new feet while thinking over this new knowledge.  
"Then I shall keep growing," Sophet said, "I will grow with the wondering people who find their way into the forest. I will love them and keep them safe, and I will grow from them, with them... Forest, when my time comes, will you please keep me safe?"  
Sophet knew the forest had no face, but she could've sworn she felt it’s smile as the rain turned to a dribble and the winds howling eased.  
"Of course, Sophet. You will always be safe here, even in death." The forest said, and so with her mind eased, Sophet set out to do as she said, and so she did. 

When her time finally came, and she was as old as the first one who had introduced her to sorrow she sat under an oak tree and smiled up at the leaves. A happy hum in her heart, unlike anything she'd ever felt.  
"Forest, oh forest," she said aloud, words tumbling from her mouth just like all the people she'd gotten to know over the years. "I've learned all their stories, all their lives, I've never been so happy!"  
"I'm pleased," said the forest.  
"I am too," Sophet said, "but now I am tired. I think it's time I rest, if I did so here would you mind?"  
"Of course not Sophet," the forest responded with the same smile in its voice. "I will always keep you safe, even in death."  
And so Sophet closed her eyes for the last time and smiled. Lulling off to sleep with the sunlight peeking through the forest leaves.


End file.
